Burglar-proof safe and vault.



No. 882,620. PATENTED MAR. 24, 1908.. W. BRINTON. BURGLAR PROOF SAFE ANDVAULT.,

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1906.

otherwise.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER BRINTON, OF HIGH BRIDGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO TAYLOR IRON &STEEL COMPANY, OF HIGH BRIDGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BURGLAR-PROOF Specification of Letters Patent.

SAFE AND VAULT.

Patented March 24, 1908.

Original application filed May '7, 1904, Serial No. 206,84A. Divided andthis application filed. January 30, 1906. Serial No. 298,610.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VALTER BRINTON, a citizen of the United States,residing in High Bridge, in the county of Hunterdon and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burglar-Proof Safes and Vaults, of which the following is a specification.

The present improvement relates to burglar proof safes and vaults, theobject of the invention being to provide an improved manganese steelsafe or vault, or safe or vault member having superior resistingqualities.

The subject-matter of the present divisional application originallyconstituted part of my co-pending application Serial No. 206,844, filedMay 7, 1904, now Patent No. 813,304, dated February 20, 1006.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of one form of this improved safeor vault body, Fig. 2 is a perspective view thereof, and Fig. 3 is asectional view of the door.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in thedifferent figures of the drawings.

It has been found that superior results are obtained by the use of steelhaving a predetermined quantity of manganese therein and which steelwhen it has from 7 to 30 per cent. of manganese therein has now becomewell known as manganese steel in the manufacture of safes and vaults,since it is practically impossible to drill or cut it, the onlypracticable machining thereof being by grinding. Consequently a safe orvault formed of this material is drill and saw proof. It is, however,when un-heat-trcated, more of less brittle so that it is necessary toproperly toughen it in order that it will effectively resist the forceof high explosives. This has prior to my invention been done bysubjecting the casting to heat-treatn1ent which has been carried out byplacing the casting when cold or after it has been cooled, in a coldfurnace and then heated, first slowly and then rapidly up to apredetermined point when it is rapidly cooled by immersing it in brinewater or Manganese steel, however, is a very difficult and peculiarmetal to handle and frequently owing to this rapid cooling immediatelyafter casting, an entirely too rapid shrinkage or contraction of themetal takes place, resulting in internal strains which cause cracks andimperfections in the castings, rendering them valueless for the purposesfor which they were designed, this being especially true of very largecastings or those of intricate design. In order to prevent this toorapid cooling, and to further prevent the casting from reaching a pointof rest, that is, a point where there is an entire or substantialabsence of heat from the casting, and to maintain therein a part of theoriginal casting heat thereof, such part being determined according tothe size and character of the casting, the casting, as soon as it hassolidified suflicient to permit it to be handled, or in other words,when it has reached a point where its strength is sufficient to retainits own weight without warping, is, after be ing first freed from anyparts of the mold which would have a tendency to retard its contractionor shrinkage, covered with sand or preferably placed in a pit speciallyprepared for this purpose where it is free from drafts of air whichwould tend to rapidly cool it.

In this manner the casting is kept at a uniform temperature throughoutand the too rapid cooling and consequent too rapid contraction orshrinkage thereof prevented. hen the casting has cooled down to theright degree of heat for final toughening, which is determined by theoperator and necessarily varies according to the size and character ofthe casting, superior results having been obtained by maintainin in thecasting a certain part of its origina casting heat varying between about100 degrees Fahrenheit, that is to say, above normal atmospherictemperature, and substantially 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, varyingaccording to the size, design and character of the casting, it is placedin a heated furnace having a temperature corresponding or substantiallycorresponding to that of the casting at this time and then heated up,usually rapidly, to a high temperature now well known in the art oftoughening manganese steel, in some instances to an orange heat. Thecasting is then removed nd rapidly cooled, which may be done byimmersing it in brine water or by other suitable means adapted for thispurpose. By this method I have been able to successfully produce verylarge, heavy safe castings, entirely free from internal strains.

I apprehend that the strain-free safe casting is due to a lessdisturbance of the molecules of the metal between the inner and outersurfaces of the casting under the present mode of treatment as comparedwith the old mode of treatment. That is to say, under the old mode oftreatment, where the casting was permitted to become cold, the inner andouter surfaces or walls were, during the subsequent heating, affectedmore rapidly than the metal between the two walls, consequentlyresulting in a more rapid expansion of these inner and outer walls thanof the metal therebetween, this causing the inner and outer surfaces orwalls to pull in opposite directions so that the metal was lia le torupture. But in the present mode of procedure, since the metal is notpermitted to become cold, there must be materially less disturbance ofthe molecules of the steel forming the safe, and in consequence themetal is strain-free, as there is no tendency of the outer and innerwalls or surfaces to pull in opposite directions to rupture the metal. 7

The safe shown in the present instance, made according to this process,comprises a body 2 of integral formation, having a projection or flange3 of a peculiar formation and which may or may not be provided with aseries of metal inserts located therein during the casting of thestructure. These inserts are of such composition as will be proofagainst and withstand enormous compres sion, thereby insuring againstany possible peening effect by stretching of the steel of the door jambopening by sledging or otheriwse, wholly preventing the admission offluid GX- plosive material. This result has been obtained by forming theinserts of chrome steel. The jamb 5 of the body projects inwardly beyondthe front proper of the body being formed by a flange 6 free of the sidewalls of such body, but braced by a series of braces 7 integral withsuch flange and side Walls. This construction affords a very strongjamb' from a comparatively small mass of metal. The door 4 of anysuitable formation, is likewise of an integral structure and formed inthe same manner as the body. A part of the purpose of these inserts isto prevent the peening of the metal adjacent to the door joints, andthey are so designed that when the main safe body is in the process ofcasting, the fluid manganese steel completely envelops the inserts,which are larger inward than outward, that is, tapered, so that theexposed part which is merely on the surface is of less area than thebase or inner surface of the inserts. The inserts are, therefore, firmlyfixed or held in position, making it impossible to loosen or remove fromtheir position except by the destruction of the manganese steel which itis entirely enveloped with. These inserts when used per form severalfunctions in assisting to make the safe body casting a success from thecasting standpoint when such casting has the swell 3 around the doorway,therefore insuring a superior safe body casting to the castingsheretofore made for this purpose. Not only in their value from the pointof hardness which they present on the. surface of the jamb, but theygive very great assistance toward making the main body of the safecasting solid and perfect because of their tendency to solidify themolten steel by cooling or absorbing the heat at the point in thecasting where the greatest amount of heat accumulates and is retainedduring the pouring of the casting and also during the cooling of thesame to the proper degree of heat preparatory to the toughening ortreating process, such inserts thus acting as chills and being hardenedduring the toughening of the safe body by the heat treatment to whichthe structure is subjected as hereinbefore set forth. It is, however, tobe understood that it is not necessary to use these inserts in allinstances, or that their use is a necessity in the production of asuperior and practicable safe.

The present method of forming and tough ening safe or vault bodies isknown to be so superior to the method heretofore practiced under priorpatents of others in which the casting to be toughened is heat-treatedfrom a cold condition, or placed in a cold furnace as hereinbeforedescribed, that not only may it be comparatively rapidly heated up to apredetermined point instead of first slowly and then rapidly, butsuperior results are ob tained even though the casting be not so uniformas has heretofore been deemed necessary for the heat-treatment ofmanganese steel safe or vault bodies. By the present method of treatingmanganese steel safe or vault castings I have been able to success fullytreat and perfect a single casting weighing as much as eight andone-half tons, which it is not practicable to do under the processes aspracticed under prior patents of others, and have found that this-methodalso gives superior results with smaller sized castings.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. An integral cast, toughenedand strainfree manganese steel safe or vault body formed by casting itand then heating it while it has retained therein a part of its castingheat, and then rapidly cooling it.

2. An integral cast, toughened and strainfree steel safe or vault bodyor member having therein from 7 to 30 per cent. of manganese and formedby casting it and then heating it up to a predetermined temperaturewhile it has retained therein a part of its casting heat rangingupwardly, according to the size of the casting, from a point abovenormal atmospheric temperature, and then rapidly cooling 1t by immersingit in a bath.

3. An integral cast, toughened and strainfree manganese steel safe orvault body formed by casting it and then rapidly heating it While it hasretained therein a part of its casting heat ranging from a point abovenor- Inal atmospheric temperature to substantially 1000 degreesFahrenheit, according to the size and design of the casting, and thenrapidly cooling it by plunging it in water.

4. An integral cast, toughened and strainfree unmachineable-metal safeor vault body having therein a predetermined quantity of manganese andformed by casting it, then rapidly heating it While it has retainedtherein a part of its casting heat, and then cooling it.

5. An integral east, toughened, strain-free unmachineable-metal safe orvault body or member having a predetermined quantity of manganesetherein and provided With a reinforced surface around its doorway andformed by casting it and then rapidly heating it u p to a predeterminedtemperature while it has retained therein a part of its casting heat,and then rapidly cooling it by quenching the casting in a bath.

WVALTER BRINTON.

Witnesses:

HARRY A. HUNT, WILLIAM W. SWAYZE, Jr.

